Lord Burgess

Lord Burgess was an English diplomat and spy in the service of Queen Elizabeth I of England during the 1560s. In 1560, he was sent to arrange the marriage of Queen Elizabeth to Louis I of Bourbon, Prince de Conde, a powerful French Protestant noble. Conde stalled for time, as turning down Elizabeth would mean his destruction, but accepting would ruin his plan to rule over Scotland with his lover Mary, Queen of Scots. Soon, Mary convinced Conde to manipulate Burgess into revealing the English plans for Scotland so that she could coordinate her landing in the country, as her scout Ridley Collins had been murdered in Le Havre before he could set out. Mary then had Burgess arrested, as he had behaved suspiciously by not visiting her court and by eating with notable Protestant leaders such as the militant Huguenot leader Victor Caron. Mary then threatened to execute Burgess for espionage if he did not confess to her, and Conde then pretended to rescue him from the prison and told him that he would be sailing to Buckhaven in Scotland. Burgess thanked Conde, but suggested that he sail to Aberdeen instead, as Buckhaven was a Catholic stronghold loyal to Mary. When Conde expressed his belief that Scotland was nearly under English control, Burgess told Conde that England was in no rush to invade Scotland, as the infighting there would take care of the problem by itself. With this information, Conde returned to Mary and told her that Buckhaven was safe, and Mary safely released Burgess back to England.